


Helping out

by Ailendolin



Series: Snapshots in Space [2]
Category: Star Trek: Picard
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Elnor being helpful, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, Gen, Hugh | Third of Five Lives, Life on the Artifact, Post-Canon Fix-It, Stressed Hugh, Worried Hugh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25306411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailendolin/pseuds/Ailendolin
Summary: Five times Elnor helped the xBs, and one time he helped Hugh.
Relationships: Elnor & Hugh | Third of Five
Series: Snapshots in Space [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1821478
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	Helping out

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 of my ongoing 5+1 series about Hugh and Elnor. The parts of this series are only very losely connected, so you don't have to read the first part to understand this one. But if you have, this part is set in Universe 102 =)
> 
> I'm not a native English speaker, so if you find any mistakes, point them out to me and I'll fix them. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, Star Trek Picard or any of the characters mentioned in this story, and I don't make any money with this.

**Helping out**

**1\. Directions**

It starts with a question.

“Do you need help?”

Hugh is on his way to an appointment in the Artifact’s medical bay. He’s already running late and hurrying through the corridors when a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye makes him stop.

Elnor is standing in the middle of the hallway, and he’s not alone. A middle-aged xB, a woman they’ve only recently reclaimed, is with him. Her one eye is wide and frantic, darting from left to right. She is obviously distressed, something Hugh has seen far too often since he started working on the Reclamation Project.

He’s about to step into the corridor to intervene when he hears Elnor’s soft and calm voice ask quietly, “Do you need help?”

Her restless gaze settles on him. “I do not know where I am,” she says.

“You’re on level four, close to the medical bay,” Elnor explains. “Is that where you wish to go?”

She shakes her head. “Mess hall.”

“I can take you there if you’d like,” Elnor offers.

He holds out his hand and after a moment’s hesitation she takes it.

Hugh watches them go with a smile, and something eases in his chest.

* * *

**2\. Cards**

The Romulans might be gone from the Artifact but the Romulan xBs remain. They’re restless, unable to understand why their people have abandoned them. Change is always jarring to xBs, and Hugh knows they’re longing for something familiar he and the few members of his staff who remain with the Reclamation Project just can’t provide. They’re stretched thin as it is, barely able to keep the place running. There’s simply no time for nonessential tasks like keeping the xBs company.

Hugh hates it. He wants to do more for them but he doesn’t know how.

It’s late, and he should be asleep right now, but the need to figure out how help his people keeps him awake. His feet take him to the room the Romulan xBs like to gather in. He’s surprised to find Elnor sitting among them, a set of _pixmit_ cards spread out between them.

He listens as Elnor quietly explains the meaning of the cards and teaches the xBs the history of their people. They look at him with rapt attention, and knowing they’re in good hands, the _best_ of hands, Hugh leaves them be, once more beyond grateful that Elnor decided to stay with him.

* * *

**3\. Defense**

It’s early.

Hugh’s not supposed to be up for another hour but nightmares, fueled by his worries over the Project, have him wandering the halls of the Artifact in search of coffee when everyone else is still asleep.

Almost everyone, as it turns out.

He can hear quiet voices and the sound of wood hitting wood from up ahead, coming from the room Elnor uses for his training exercises. Curious, Hugh steps closer and peers around the corner. He sees Elnor first, a vision in blue. Around him, eight xBs have paired off to face each other with wooden sticks.

“Again,” Elnor calmly instructs. “And remember: place your feet a bit apart so you have a firm stand.”

Some xBs readjust their feet, and then the room is filled with the sound of wooden swords colliding with each other once more. Hugh rarely gets to see his xBs this focused, driven and carefree, and it’s a sight to behold. He hadn’t known that Elnor was teaching them to fight – and has been doing so for a while already, it seems – and warmth spreads through his chest.

He settles against the wall to watch, thinking one day he might join them.

* * *

**4\. Braiding**

They’ve recently reclaimed a child. Her designation is Fourth of Eight. Her name, according to Federation records, is Meribel. She is half-Ktarian as is evident by the yellow color of her eyes. Her file states that she was ten years old when she was assimilated. She doesn’t look much older now despite the time she spent in the maturation chamber. Her skin is as pale as any other drone’s, her head bald and intersected with cables. The sight makes Hugh feel sick.

She acclimates well, but the Artifact is no place for a child – for anyone, really, Hugh knows but can do little about. She is lucky, though. She still has grandparents who long to bring her home.

“I don’t want them to see me like this,” he hears her whisper one night on his way to his quarters.

“Like what?” Elnor asks, and Hugh isn’t surprised. Meribel has barely left his side these last few weeks, clearly taken with him.

“Bald,” she admits. “I wish I had hair like you.”

When her grandparents pick her up a week later, she’s proudly wearing a blond wig, hair carefully braided just like Elnor’s. Hugh shares a look with Elnor and smiles.

* * *

**5\. Storytelling**

For some xBs, the process of reclamation is smoother than for others. The older an xB is, the longer they have been Borg, the harder it becomes for them to reclaim their humanity, both inside and out.

Two of Ten is one such case. She is over sixty, and there is no record of her in any of the files Hugh has access to. Her right eye is failing, and the left one was lost after the removal of her ocular implant. She seems frail and tends to keep to herself, her arms always wrapped around her body in search of warmth.

Hugh has never seen her smile, and it breaks his heart.

It all changes one day when he’s late for lunch. He expects the mess hall to be deserted but it isn’t. In one corner, he spots Elnor sitting with Two of Ten. He’s reading a story Hugh knows he is fond of in quiet tones – _The Three Musketeers_ – and Two of Ten has her head tilted towards him, hanging onto his every word.

The chapter ends, and she surprises them both when she suddenly smiles and says with confidence, “I would like to be called Constance now.”

* * *

**+1 Gardening**

Hugh feels stressed. It’s nothing new – working on the Artifact does that to people, especially now that they’re severely understaffed and the fate of the Project lies in the balance. Any day now the Federation is going to determine the future of his work, and Hugh fears the odds won’t be in his favor. Most people hate the Borg. It makes it hard to convince them that the work he’s doing is a good thing and not a disaster waiting to happen.

“You have so many successes to show them,” Elnor has tried to reassure him a few weeks ago. “Just look at Meribel. And you and Seven alone have contributed so much to science, so who’s to say other xBs won’t do the same?”

While Hugh appreciates Elnor’s encouraging words, he knows that not all minds of the Federation leadership share Elnor’s enthusiasm. All they see when they look at the xBs is a potential threat at worst and a nuisance at best. He didn’t have the heart to tell Elnor that, though, so after that he kept his worries to himself.

But after weeks of not enough sleep and trying to figure out how to write a report that’s convincing enough to get the Project approved and extended, the cracks begin to show. He’s not only starting to forget appointments or confuse dates, he’s also been snapping at his people – and that, more than anything, is unforgivable. Of all people, Hugh should know best that patience and understanding is what xBs need the most after being reclaimed.

Things come to a head when Vincent, an xB Hugh has known for over a year now and considers more a friend than a patient, comes to him in search of reassurance before his next dermal treatment. Hugh is running on 2 hours of sleep and five cups of coffee at that point, and something in him just snaps when Vincent starts to voice his fears which, in that moment, seem completely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

And that’s exactly what he tells Vincent in the middle of the mess hall with everyone watching. A hush falls over the room and Hugh regrets his words immediately when he sees Vincent’s eyes widen in shock. He barely has time to whisper, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean that,” before Elnor grabs his arm and pulls him out of the room. He doesn’t say anything but Hugh can feel the disappointment rolling off of him in waves, and he hangs his head in shame.

He’s a little surprised when they step into Elnor’s quarters and not his own. The door closes behind them and Elnor points towards one of the two chairs at the table and Hugh obediently sits down. He waits for Elnor to question his behavior, waits for him to be angry at him, but instead Elnor simply grabs one of his many plants and sets it down in front of Hugh.

“The old blossoms need to be plucked out,” he says before getting a plant for himself.

Hugh has never been one for gardening. He’d tried keeping a cactus once, after Geordi told him that they’re easy to handle. In the end, he’d drowned the poor thing out of fear of not giving it enough water. After that, he decided not to doom another plant to a miserable existence and untimely death at his hands.

When Hugh tries to tell Elnor that he’s horrible with plants and that it’s really not a good idea to have him handle Elnor’s treasured flowers from Vashti, Elnor just shakes his head. “It’s really not that difficult. Just put your fingers around them and pull. See?”

He shows Hugh how it’s done and Hugh, knowing how much these plants mean to Elnor, tries to copy his movements as perfectly as he can. First one withered blossom comes away, then another and another. The table between them is slowly filling with them, and the repetitive movements are both so soothing and calming that Hugh doesn’t protest when Elnor gives him a second plant after he’s done with the first even though there a probably a million other things he needs to do right now.

“You worry too much,” Elnor says after Hugh starts working on his third plant. “I can see that you don’t sleep, and I know you skip lunch every day because you try to do the work of several people.” He pauses and fixes Hugh with a stare. “You have to stop. You’re not doing anyone any favors if you work yourself to the ground.”

Hugh’s hands pause mid-air, and he knows he sounds a little helpless when he says, “All of this could be gone tomorrow, Elnor.”

“I know,” Elnor says. “But running yourself ragged won’t change that. Snapping at your people won’t either. You did your best, Hugh, and that is good enough.”

“But what if it’s not?” Hugh whispers.

“Then we’ll find another way to help your people. Where one door closes, another will always open,” Elnor says with confidence. His hands come to rest on top of Hugh’s. “Do not let your worries ruin what you have achieved so far. You’re doing great work here, Hugh. And if you need someone to talk to – I could always use some help with the flowers.”

The offer is so sweet and kind that Hugh can’t help but smile. “So, which one’s next?”

They settle into a routine. Hugh tries to leave his worries in his room when he starts his days, and after dinner he joins Elnor in his quarters and they tend to the plants together.

A week later, the long-awaited call finally comes in.

“Good morning, Hugh,” Admiral Janeway greets him.

Hugh tries not to show how nervous he is. “Good morning, Admiral. I hope you’re calling with good news.”

Admiral Janeway smiles.

Ten minutes later Hugh is knocking on Elnor’s door. “Five more years!”

Elnor pulls him into a hug. “I knew you’d do it!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, everyone! I hope you've enjoyed the second part of this series. Part 3 will be posted on Thursday next week (23rd of July) because it's my birthday and the theme will be, quite coincidentally, birthdays ;) And if you liked Meribel, she will make another appearance in the third part. 
> 
> I hope everyone is having a great day and staying safe and healthy, and as always much love to the Hugh Crew! 
> 
> If you want to talk to me on tumblr all things Hugh or Star Trek, you can find me [here](https://ailendolin.tumblr.com/) .


End file.
